On Tuesday Prep 5 set off for their annual visit to Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre. The children were very excited about the new facts they would learn and the investigations they would take part in. The first activity of the day was the “Destination Space!” workshop. This was introduced by Tim Peake via a video. The children then learned about the tasks Tim had to carry out on the ISS (International Space Station) during his six months on board. Then they had to undertake their own mission to wire up an electric circuit to make a bulb light with a switch. Easy! Next they had to do the same task whilst wearing NASA Astronaut’s Gloves…not so easy. This showed them how difficult Tim’s EVA was on the ISS. After the experiments the instructor discussed the power of rockets and showed them how rocket fuel was used by igniting ethanol vapour. The blast amazed all children.
There was a visit to the Planet Pathway, Space Pavilion and Planet Pavilion where the children in groups had to find answers amongst the displays to a series of questions they were given. After lunch the visit was completed with the activity which gave us the most “Wows!” and “Ooohs!” The Inflatable Planetarium! In this activity the children were able to fast forward through time to see the moon and zoom in on its seas. Such as the Sea of Tranquillity where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Lunar Module in 1969. They were treated to close-ups of Mars and Saturn which were amazing.
The visit was excellent and the children gained so much knowledge from their time there. It was inspirational to them and perhaps we have some future astronauts in Prep 5 who will travel into ”Infinity and beyond…!”